A Paladin build?

[Moredhel]

From testing TheBalance's Battlemage-build, I started thinking about a holy man paladin-build for myself. Might not be as strong/fast as the Battlemage (and you wouldn't join the DB because you're a goodie two shoes), but you could be a near unkillabe tank with magical backup. When I say magical, I mean HEALING.

 

Wouldn't it be fun to see your enemy effortlessly trying to kill you? Picture this: enemy hits you and you either block (to level that skill) or take the hits (to level heavy armor) and simply have a healing spell at the ready to stay alive?

 

Now, lets see if I have a decent build for that. Here's what you need (in my eyes):

 

Restoration:

I usually pick Novice + Respite for any char (half the cost for 150% more healing = awesome). Since you'll be having more healing spells, I suggest you go all the way in the tree. Skip the wards. Wards suck.

 

Heavy Armor:

You're a heavy set tank, pick the right branch in the perks. Fist fighting isn't your style, fall damage is meh and if you think you're slow in yer heavy armor, buy a horse (preferably a white one, you shiny knight!)

 

One-handed:

Armsman: 5 points

Fighting stance

Bone-breaker: for the awesome ignore armor perk. Facing a tank? Tough luck for him, you'll beat him senseless with your blessed mace. I also find the "thou shallt not draweth blood" from a D&D's priest/cleric point of view important for a paladin.

Savage Strike

Critical Charge: for those moments you want a fast fight when facing enemies on the road, and get on with your stroll across the land.

Paralyzing strike: very handy if you need a few seconds rest to cast some healing spells or gulp down some potions without being in the frenzy of a fight.

 

Block:

It's a shame you need the Deflect Arrows perk to get to the best: Elemental Protection. You want it. For the rest, put points in Shield Wall and anything else you like.

 

Smithing:

Don't think I have to explain, just get the heavy armor branch :) I once made the mistake to take the light armor-branch solely for steel plate. While that is a good armorset it was still 2 perk points lost imho. Just get to dwarven and beyond.

 

Those above are the basic 5 skills you need in my opinion, one could always build it out with other stuff, like a little Alteration for extra armor buffs, or Destruction if you feel like Thor with your hammer and want to cast lightning as well ;)

 

Now that we have the build, let's pick a race, shall we?

Let's see which races have initial skills for the 5 above:

 

Altmer: +5 restoration

Argonians: +5 restoration

Breton: Resist 25% magic, Dragonskin, +5 restoration

Imperial: +10 restoration, +5 block, +5 heavy armor, +5 one-handed

Nord: Resist Frost 50%, Battlecry, +5 one-handed, +5 block, +5 smithing

Orc: Berserker Rage, +10 heavy armor, +5 block, +5 one-handed, +5 smithing

Redguard: +10 one-handed, +5 block, +5 smithing

 

In my eyes, Imperials, Nords, Orcs and Redguards have the best treats for becoming a Paladin. But have you ever seen an Orc Paladin? Me neither, so goodbye Orc. This leaves us with Imperials, Nords and Redguards. I for one would pick the Imperial, mostly because of the +10 restoration which already gives you access to Apprentice Restoration at lvl 2, which is nice!

 

If you want more of a fighter first, healer later kinda guy, Redguard is your race.

 

 

 

I've just written my thoughts here, which means this is not THE build for a paladin, so I'm very open to suggestions and criticism :) Give it a try!

[Moredhel]

Moving on to part 2 of ideas :)

 

Enchants/Enchanting:

I'm not really familiar with this stuff, but I'd skip the perk until later in the game or when you're in your 30's. If I find enchants like +x % 1h wep dmg on light gloves, I'm sure to disenchant them and put them on my heavy gloves, even if it means it goes from 25% to 13%, it's still a boost. Plus if you wear the light gloves, your Well Fitted and Matching Set perks in the heavy armor tree will not count.

 

I would enchant my mace with either fire (cleansing fire to purge the wicked) or shock damage (Thor, once again), my shield with +block and anything else with either health or magicka.

 

Alteration:

I would go for the Magic Resistance perk, and triple it, ofcourse. Only problem is how to reach lvl 70 alteration... also, stoneflesh and the likes are very handy for extra armor :)

 

Factions:

I would join the Companions (but the werewolf stuff is a big headache if you want to stay true to your noble heart), the Bards, Imperial Legion and the College of Winterhold. I won't join the DB and Thieves, unless I would at some point include a fallen paladin rp in my play, but that's for later.

 

Followers:

Hmm, I wouldn't pick a tank like Lydia to tag along with me, maybe that priest in Dawnstar for rp, or a 2hander kind of person to take enemies down while I keep the rest busy or heal him.

 

Can't think of anything else to write, so I'll just start Skyrim and see where this all leads me... hope to see some reactions here when I come back!

[Kravick]

I did something similar but used a 2-handed sword. More of a crusader than a paladin but was still very paladiny. Unfortunately, I saw no point in going past Adept Restoration and the Turn Undead series of spells were honestly more trouble than they were worth. Killing Draugr became a serious chore so I stopped using that spell, though it is rather hilarious hitting vampires with that spell.

 

I never needed elemental protection. I just enchanted my armor with resist magic to 60% and never had a problem with enemy mages after that. I'll eventually get Extra Enchant and start adding + magicka and restoration cost reduction along with the magic resist. I won't try to make restoration cost 0 magicka though as I try not to cheese the system. I find it makes the game way to easy that way.

 

With smithing improved armor, Alteration is really not needed at all. In fact it would be a waste of perk points. Remember, armor caps at 567 (80% damage reduction), and its incredibly easy to achieve that with heavy armor WITHOUT using the potion/enchanting exploit. All in all I was pretty unstoppable once I got into Orcish armor while running around with a fire enchanted Dwarven Greatsword. For whatever reason, Orcish weapons are just bad. Worse than Elven weapons, which for some reason are better than Dwarven weapons, but because I ignored the light armor side of smithing, I couldn't make Elven weaponry. I purposefully held back getting into Orcish armor though because I didn't want to make it to easy. I waited until about level 30 before getting into Orcish and will probably wait until around 40ish before getting into ebony. I'm not even sure I'll even wear dragon or Daedric. I simply don't like they way they look. Daedric weapons I'll definitely make though.

 

The bards, I completely forgot about that faction. What is that faction about anyway and what do they do?

[InuyashaFE]

My current paladin is a breton who I'm building around magic resistance, so if you want to build something around that, I think the best way is to pick Breton, do the Mara quests, and get the Lord stone, or even the Atronach stone.

 

As a Breton with a permanent Mara's blessing, and the Lord stone you have a 65% magical resistance which is pretty good if you have to fight wizards.

 

Get some enchanting, put some magic resistance on your gear, and you can bump it up to 75%.

[Moredhel]

Thanks for the replies :)

 

Kravick, you make a good point about the armor cap (I always forget about that one) and the turn undead thing. While the latter sure is rp worthy, I can understand how frustrating it gets when you're facing tons of Draugr in a ruin :D I'll also reconsider the Resto- and Alteration trees, since the first ain't really necessary to fill all the way to master and then latter will be a waste of points later in the game (even tho it's very nice from beginning to mid-lvl I bet).

 

Inuyasha, yes I've been playing with the idea of a Breton, but I already used that for a warrior/battlemage-mix... while very powerful, I want to try something different this time ;)